Investigators are working to discover more details about Saturday night’s helicopter crash outside Leicester City’s football stadium, with sources saying that the club’s owner was one of five passengers on board.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who bought Leicester for £39m in 2010, is thought to have boarded the flight after watching his team’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United in the Premier League. The Thai billionaire’s helicopter took off from the pitch at around 8.30pm and erupted in flames after crashing in an empty car park near the south-east corner of the King Power Stadium.
It is understood there were no survivors. The authorities spent Sunday trying to find out the identity of the five passengers on board. It is also understood that there were no other casualties on the ground when the helicopter crashed.
Sources say Vichai, who has two sons and two daughters, was the only member of his family on the flight. The 60-year-old was due to fly to Luton Airport before taking a private jet back to Thailand. Vichai is a hugely popular figure with Leicester supporters, having provided the backing that saw them win their first ever Premier League title in 2016.
Eyewitnesses said that the Augusta AW169 helicopter struggled to clear the roof of the stadium and spiralled to ground after developing a fault around an hour after the end of the game. The emergency services rushed to the scene to tackle a huge fire and members of the public travelled to the stadium to leave tributes on Sunday.
It has been suggested by sources that Jon Rudkin, Leicester’s director of football, was supposed to be on the flight but stayed in Leicester.
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